JALALABAD - Land plots measuring 1,500 acres have been usurped by powerful individuals on a township in the capital of eastern Nangarhar province, an official said on Monday.
Refugee and Repatriation director Ghulam Haidar Faqiri told reporters here that nearly 3,000 plots had been grabbed in the Chamtali township area.
The Chamtali Township was constructed for families who had returned back to Afghanistan. Situated on the outskirts of Jalalabad near Sara Rud district, the residential scheme consists of 8,000 plots.
But only 5,000 plots have been distributed to returning families and the remaining plots have been occupied or sold by powerful individuals.
To a question, Faqiri said buyers of the grabbed plots could not dare to name the land grabbers. He said when officials arrived in the area, the land grabbers disappeared to avoid being arrested.
The governor’s spokesman, Attaullah Khogyani, said most plots in the Chamtali Township had been grabbed or purchased illegally and a mechanism was being worked out to retake the usurped plots and prevent such incidents in future.
He said the provincial government was committed to retaking the grab land and so far dozens of land grabbers had been detained.
A new investigative report claims nearly two million acres of land was usurped by 15,800 individuals in 18 provinces only under former president Hamid Karzai during the past 14 years.
The survey in three chapters and 100 pages has been prepared in three months by the Afghanistan Freedom House (AFH), an investigative institute.
The survey titled ‘The Black Season of Land Grabbing’ and ‘The Consequences of Land Grabbing in Afghanistan’ cites credible information from government and non-government organs.
The survey that interviewed 70 government officials said usurping government and private properties has a long history in Afghanistan but most of the public properties were grabbed during the last four years.  (Pajhwok)